Boots and shoes



UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

' LYMAN R. BLAKE, O F QUINOY, MASSACHUSETTS.

BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,388, dated September 27, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, LYMAN R. BLAKE, of Quincy, Norfolk county, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new Manufacture of Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sutiicient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

In the manufacture of boots and shoes it is a desideratum to so employ an inner sole that the union of the vamp with the outer or wearing soleshall not depend upon the inner sole, and so that the inner sole has no function other than that -of means for temporarily securing the vamp in proper position to receive the outer sole, and of filling to make a suitable surface for the foot to rest upon. In boots and shoes previously made employing an inner sole to which the vamp was secured or lasted, this sole also performed an important part in maintaining the integrity of the structure, inasmuch as thatthe union of the vamp with the outer or wearing sole depended as much, upon the inner sole as upon the other parts.

To so construct a boot or shoe that the inner sole shall have no other function than the temporary one of mea-nsl for lasting and the permanent one of filling `is the object of my invention, which consists in a boot or shoe having the outer sole and vamp united by stitches passing directly through them from the outside to the inside of the article, in which the inner sole is made'so much narrower and shorter than the o uter or wearing 'sole that the stitches which are employed to unite the vamp and outer sole shall not pass into the inner sole.

Figure l is a cross-section of a boot or shoe constructed in accordance with my invention; and Fig. 2 is a similar view of the now well known construction described in the United States Patent No. 29,562, dated August 14, 1860.

In F1g.l it will be seen that the size of the inner sole is such as to fall short of the seam which unites the vamp and outer or wearing sole, while in Fig. 2 the inner sole is of such size that said seam passes through it. In Fig. 2 the integrity of the shoe depends upon the inner sole as much as upon the vamp and outer sole; hence it is needed that the inner sole should be of leather, or other equivalent material, and of good quality, for if in Wear the inner sole gives way, or is out through by the Stitches, then thc seam is loosened and the stitches either cut or rip.

In the construction shown in Fig. 1 less stock is required for the inner sole, and it may be made of very cheap material-the waste from paper-box factories answering as well as leatherwhile its cost is a mere triiie.

In Fig. l the whole inner sole may be removed, and yet 'the form and integrity of the shoe will be 'uninjured, and the place of the inner sole may be supplied by any suitable loose material.

In both figures the lasting-tacks are shown as passing through the vamp and as clinched n the inner sole. I

In Fig. l the inner sole may serve the mere temporary purpose of lasting 7 only, being made of `leather or 'other suitable stout material, which', after the sewing is performed, mayfbei'orcibly tornourtand used again and again for the purpose of lasting. After the temporary inner sole is thus removed, the shoe must be placed on a metal-bottomed last and hammered or rolled on the surface ot' the sole to clinch or embed into its inner surface such ot' the lasting-tacks as do not tear out of the vamp in the removal of the inner sole. This removal of the inner sole is not difficult, the only bond of'union between it and the vamp being a few slight lastingtacks, and its removal does not in the least impair the integrity of the structure of the shoe, which remains as perfect as before the inner sole was removed.

In Fig. 2, where the inner sole forms an i11- tegral part of the structure, it could only be torn out with the greatest diiiiculty, and when removed the stitches uniting the vamp and sole would all be loose and the shoe would be in a worthless condition.

I claim- As a new article of manufacture a boot or shoe having a construction substantially as described. v

LYMAN R. BLAKE. Vitnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, GORDON MCKAY. 

